FIFEFIGHTERS had to break down a door in a smouldering high rise flat in Southampton to rescue a man who had passed out from a drinking session.

The man, in his 50s, failed to wake up to a smoke alarm that was triggered by a cooking pan that caught on fire while he dozed off.

He had to be escorted from his flat on the fifth floor of Rotterdam Towers, International Way and was given oxygen by a paramedic.

Around 24 firefighters from Hightown and St Mary's stations along with police and an ambulance crew were called to the flat in, just after 9pm.

Firefighter Colin Reeves said: "Because you have a smoke alarm doesn't mean it will save your life. It's what you do when you hear it.

"We still get people that are either drunk at home or go out and drink, come back home and try to cook something.

"While whatever is cooking they are falling asleep and are not aware of what's happening because of the state they are in."